Little Pink Starfish

Pei Sen’s main account was also a mage. He had joined Bix Magic Cube after the game had already exploded in popularity. By that time, the mage class was well-developed and there were countless guides online. The general consensus on the forums was that playing a mage required serious brainpower, so not many people picked it. But those who did and stuck with it often became highly skilled.

When Pei Sen started, he hadn’t known just how complicated the mage class was. But he wasn’t someone who gave up easily. The more he played, the more fun he found it, and in the end, he became one of the more well-known and experienced mage players.

Even though this was just an alt account—and one with terrible base stats—it was still technically a mage.

After receiving Bersa’s notebook, Pei Sen didn’t immediately open it. He first returned the tray to the kitchen and asked them to prepare a new dinner.

As he walked away, Keso gave Madam Mary a meaningful look.
“You’re really comfortable putting a commoner with no background by the young master’s side?”

Mary didn’t even glance at him.
“Since the young master insists, I don’t think it’s a problem.”

As if your people aren’t dangerous too? Compared to them, these commoners—unknown as they may be—are far less of a threat.

Keso seemed to read her thoughts and sneered faintly, but didn’t press the issue. He turned and left, his ornate mage robes catching the chandelier light and glowing faintly.

Mary watched him go, worry clouding her heart.

It was because of that anxiety that Igel kept driving people away, ruining his own reputation just to get rid of them.

She wondered how long Pei Sen would last.

If Igel had heard her thoughts, he would’ve laughed.

Driving people away out of fear? No. He just didn’t like them. That was all.

Still toying with his cat, Igel watched a beautiful black-haired, blue-eyed girl enter the room. She scowled at the mess on the floor and cast a cleaning spell, taking a deep breath before speaking to Igel.

“Bad mood?”

Igel didn’t look at her.
“If you know I’m in a bad mood, how dare you stick around?”

This girl was, of course, Bersa, sent by Keso to clean the carpet.

A brilliant young mage and noble spellcaster, being treated like a maid was already insulting enough. Keso had told her to try striking up conversation with Igel. She had tried—but Igel’s attitude was just too much.

“Still here?” Igel said mockingly. “The carpet’s clean now. Remember your place—you’re just here to clean. Or should I have someone throw you out?”

He treated her like a cleaning maid.

Bersa’s face turned red with rage. She clenched her fists, then stormed out without a word.

When Pei Sen returned, not only was the carpet spotless, two maids were carefully wiping down the furnishings in the room, their movements so silent and restrained that it was like they were trying to disappear.

That’s because earlier, any maid who made noise or stood out too much… had already been dismissed.

Pei Sen, thinking about that notebook, still managed to keep a polite smile as he said gently,
“Young Master, if you don’t want the soup, how about something lighter? I could make congee for you next time—would that be alright?”

He was basically using the tone of coaxing a small child.

Alyx Continent had a very Western-style food culture—mostly bread, meat, and thick soups. Rice existed but was relatively rare. Still, for the Golden Rose Manor, sourcing rice wasn’t difficult.

Honestly though, Pei Sen was mostly just craving it himself. After days of nothing but bread, he was about to snap.

Igel looked at him curiously.
“You can cook?”

“As a commoner, it’s a basic survival skill, Young Master,” Pei Sen said with a smile. “Though whether you’ll like the taste is another matter entirely.”

If Igel didn’t like it, great—Pei Sen could eat it himself. Perfect. He just had to pretend he made it for the young master.

He thought he was pretty clever, actually.

He endured another hour or so in Igel’s room, watching the boy nibble a grand total of two bites of dinner—with the air of someone doing Pei Sen a favor.

Pei Sen could only sigh internally.

Finally, after spending ages brushing that cat, Pex, he was done with his day’s “work” and could return to his room.

There, he finally had time to open the notebook.

To a regular person, this kind of mage notebook would be utterly baffling. Aptitude wasn’t everything—but it helped. Keso had tossed the book to Pei Sen without a second thought, sure that a commoner with no mentor and poor magical affinity couldn’t possibly make any progress just from a basic notebook.

Pei Sen, however, was smiling.

This was Bersa’s beginner notebook from when she first started studying magic under Keso. It wasn’t advanced—just full of mage basics. But magic was a high-barrier field to begin with. What Keso didn’t mention was that the entire book was written in magical script.

Magical language wasn’t just another alphabet. It was dense, convoluted, and required imagination and comprehension skills to even start learning spells.

But thanks to the game system, Pei Sen could bypass that wall entirely.

Some players had once joked that being good at 3D geometry helped with playing a mage. They weren’t wrong. But the spell models in this game didn’t follow normal logic. The lines twisted and curved in ways that defied physics.

Because spells—by their nature—weren’t scientific.

What they all were, though, was headache-inducingly complex.

Pei Sen, however, had long since mastered the art of memorizing spell models.

On his main account, he had learned over 300 spells, more than half of them mid-to-high tier—many of which were nightmares to understand.

But as a player, he had one major advantage:
As long as he could memorize a spell model and replicate it in his skill panel, he could learn the spell instantly and permanently. It was like reading a skill book—it would remain in his skill list forever.

In contrast, NPC mages had to memorize spell models and practice them extensively before they could actually use them.

That’s why mages were so rare: the bar to entry was high, progress was slow, and there were no shortcuts.
No dumb people made it as mages.

Pei Sen glanced at the first spell model and instantly formed its structure in his mind. His main account had learned this spell long ago.

It was the most basic one: Meditation.
Not a dramatic training method from a novel, but a passive skill that accelerated mana regeneration.

Ding. Learned “Meditation”.
Meditation (Passive Skill): Mana regen speed +10%

Mana regen scaled with Intelligence, but passive skills like Meditation helped boost it too.

He flipped through more of the notebook. As expected of an early training book, it was packed with entry-level apprentice spells—perfect for his current stage.

The skill panel clearly stated that learning higher-tier spells required a base level of “spell knowledge.” Each apprentice-level spell granted +1 spell knowledge, and 20 were needed to unlock beginner-level spells.

That wasn’t easy. Pei Sen’s main account had scrounged together random apprentice spells for a long time before he could finally advance.

What delighted him was that, while basic, this notebook had a lot of apprentice spells.

“Cleaning spell, Organizing spell, Dust-repelling spell…” Pei Sen muttered. “Wait… was Keso seriously trying to train Bersa into Igel’s maid? Why are there so many housework spells?”

He hadn’t even seen some of them before.

Not that he was complaining—most players ignored these lifestyle spells anyway. Everyone wanted damage or defense. But for him, this was the perfect way to bulk up his spell knowledge.

Ding. Learned “Cleaning Spell”
Ding. Learned “Organizing Spell”
Ding. Learned “Dust-Repelling Spell”
Ding. Learned “Rain-Blocking Spell”
Ding. Learned “Water-Gathering Spell”
Ding. Learned “Basic Ice Blade”
Ding. Learned “Basic Freeze”
…

Pei Sen guessed Keso was probably an ice-type mage. Even at the apprentice level, the notebook didn’t include spells from any other element.

By the end of the night, Pei Sen had finished going through the whole notebook and learned all the apprentice spells inside.

And that wasn’t all—on the last few pages, he was surprised to find notes where Bersa had tried to study magic runes and magic circles!

Judging from her notes, she hadn’t understood the material and eventually gave up.
This was years ago—she might’ve made progress since then—but at the time, she clearly couldn’t grasp it.

But what she had copied were the entry-level basics.

Ding. Gained knowledge: Magic Runes (Beginner)
Ding. Gained knowledge: Magic Circles (Beginner)

“Now that’s a nice bonus,” Pei Sen grinned.

Yes, his alt’s stats were trash, but the mage class didn’t play by the same rules as other classes.

Low intelligence? Weak mana pool? No problem.
Once he hit level 10, he’d just chug mana potions and fight his way through.

People forgot: this account was originally a storage alt. His bags and warehouse were fully upgraded and stuffed with rare materials.

Some items might be nothing special years down the line, but right now?
Rare treasures.

He had stockpiles of mana potions alone.

And as for spell damage? He wasn’t worried. He could just layer himself with ten or twenty runes.
He had studied Runecrafting seriously in the late game and knew its power.

Pei Sen closed the notebook with a happy sigh.

“Lord Keso, seriously… you’re just the best. So thoughtful!”
Love you, man.